Before Horrible Times
by xMadHatterx
Summary: Before Cloud was saving the planet, he was with ShinRa. He also got a good friend named Zack while he was there, despite the fact that Cloud was a cadet and Zack was a first class SOLDIER. Yaoi, ZackXCloud I'm not updating this anymore.
1. Chapter 1

**Rating**: PG for this chapter, but it will get bad

**Warning**: Yaoi in later chapters, possibly lemon if people like me enough

**Pairings:** Eventually ZackXCloud

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters except for the OCs that I created

**Fullmetal-Alchemist10: **Well this is my first story in a really long time... I don't think I'll be typing anything for my FMA one for a while... I dunno got sucked into FFVII and well, here's a fic! Hope you like it!

---------------------------------

"Now where do I go…?" A short, sixteen year old blonde said. He was looking for his new room in the barracks. He just got accepted as a cadet for Shin-Ra and was totally, and utterly, lost. "Well they said room 103…Ah! Here it is!" The blonde unlocked his door with the card key and walked in.

The room was very ordinary. It had two beds with, what looked like, very uncomfortable mattresses. There was a small table beside each bed, and there were also small desks on the other side of the room. This area was deemed the "sleeping area" in Cloud's mind. The other area was the "Living Room" which consisted of a very small television and a couch. There was also an extremely small bathroom that had the toilet practically in the shower. "I wish it was better…oh well, I wonder when my new roommate is going to arrive…"

The blonde walked in and set his suitcase on his bed. "Wonderful. They were nice enough to not give me some place to put my clothing. I guess I'll have to get some crates to store my clothing in…"

As soon as he said that, a brunette walked in. He had light brown, almost dirty blonde hair, and he also had oddly brilliant green eyes. "So I'm guessing you're my new roommate?" the brunette asked the blonde.

"Yup. My name is Cloud Strife. What's yours?"

"I'm Allen Nightroad. Just call me Al though. I guess you already claimed the bed on the left…I'll just be over here on the bed on the right…" Al walked over and put his suitcase on the bed.

"So what part of Shin-Ra are you going for?" Cloud asked Al. He wanted to get to know him a little more. Cloud was going to live with him after all.

"I'm going for SOLDIER, but I have the Turks as my back-up plan. I doubt I'll make it into SOLDIER. I've always been told I wasn't strong enough for it…What about you?"

"Well, I'm going for SOLDIER as well. I know this may sound cheesy, but I want to be as great as Sephiroth some day. I also think that you'll do find in SOLDIER. I anyone is to doubt themselves, it would be me…"

Al shrugged and started to unpack a few things.

Cloud was already almost done and decided that he'll finish the rest later. "Well, I'm going to go get my schedule for my classes. I'll probably be back in ten minutes or so, see ya."

"Okay, bye."

Cloud started to head towards one of the offices that he was told to go to pick up his schedule. When he arrived, he noticed a sign outside that said, "Sgt. Fugimori". _"Hmmm... must be from Wutai,"_ Cloud thought to himself as he walked in.

Sure enough, Sgt. Fugimori was noticeably from Wutai. "I have come to pick up your schedule, sir."

"What's your name?"

"Cloud Strife, sir."

Sgt. Fugimori flipped through a stack of papers until he found Cloud's. He pulled it out and handed it to him. "Here you are. You are to report to your first class tomorrow at seven-thirty. You will get your uniforms during your lunch break. I also suggest that you get some breakfast sometime before going to class. You are dismissed."

Cloud saluted. "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" Then, he walked out of the office.

_"Ugh… 7:30 in the morning? For materia studies? Why did they give me such a boring class early in the morning… I wonder if Al has any of the same classes I do."_ Cloud thought to himself as he walked back over to the _barracks._

As he was walking and looking at his schedule, he bumped into some man's chest. Cloud quickly looked up and noticed that he was in SOLDIER. "I'm so sorry, sir! Please forgive me! I wasn't looking where I was going, sir!"

The man had longish, spiky black hair, and mako-enhanced violet eyes. "Woah! Hold on there! It's fine! Don't worry about it. What are you reading that caused you to bump into me anyway?"

Cloud was taken aback by how friendly this SOLDIER was even though he was a lowly cadet. "Oh, I was just looking at my schedule, sir. I just got here today."

"Oh! Hey, could I look at it?"

"Yes, sir." Cloud handed over his schedule over to this strange black-haired SOLDIER.

The SOLDIER looked at it over for a few seconds, and then said, "Sergeant Fugimorei is pretty nice. Very strict, but he usually has some of the best kids. You also seem to have lunch break at the same time I do. Although, the material studies first thing in the morning doesn't sound great. Otherwise, you have a decent schedule. Mine used to be worse. Maybe I should tell you my name, too. I'm Zack; I assume that you have figured out that I'm in SOLDIER by now telling by how petrified you look. Relax though, I don't bite…much." Zack paused to see if he would get a reaction from the cadet. He sure did and it looked weirded out and petrified. "I'm just kidding about the last part." Zack grinned. "So what's your name?"

"C-Cloud S-Strife, sir." Cloud was still petrified, especially when he heard that his man is Zack, who is second in command to Sephiroth.

"You don't have to say 'sir' all the time; it makes me feel so old. Just call me Zack, I'm fine with it. Telling by your schedule, you want to be in SOLDIER, am I correct?"

"Yes…" Cloud still felt immensely nervous around Zack and he hoped that he could go back to his room sometime soon.

"That's great! Well, I don't want to keep you any longer, you look like you're going to piss your pants from being so nervous. See ya!" Zack just smiled, waved, and walked off, leaving Cloud completely dumbfounded.

Cloud made his way back to the barracks and into his room, and he found Al sitting on the couch watching TV.

"It took you quite a while. I was staring to worry. What happened?"

Cloud sat on the couch. "I accidentally walked into Zack from SOLDIER…"

"You don't mean THE Zack who is in first class SOLDIER and second in command to Sephiroth, do you?"

"That's the one…" Cloud glanced at the TV, and some random cartoon was on.

"Geez, I hope that you apologized."

"I did, and I didn't get the reaction I expected. I expected him to yell at me or something, but instead he talked to me like I was his best friend."

"Wow, that's weird. Well, I'm going to get my schedule now. Let's home that I don't run into Sephiroth or something."

"Heh, yeah. See ya."

"Bye."

-----------------------------------

**Fullmetal-Alchemist10:** Well, that's chapter one of _Before Horrible Times_ and I already have the second and third chapter written on paper, so I should have those posted soon! Please review! I'll post faster!


	2. Chapter 2

**Fullmetal-Alchemist10: **Well this is my last posting for this fic before school starts for me... -sigh- Well I hate to break it to you all, but my mother has put a restriction on my computer time. I can only go on after school on Friday and on the weekend...So the updates might be even more spaced apart because I'm lazy and I also have other projects that I have to do. It is also my Junior year in high school so I'm going to be loaded with work like my grad project and the SATs and such... Maybe I'll update like normal if I have one of my computer classes the first semester and I'll just type up the fic in my spare time, but slim chances for that. Enough about me, here's the new chapter of _Before Horrible Times_! Hope you like it and I EXPECT REVIEWS! I ONLY GOT ONE LAST TIME!

**Disclaimer (I dunno if I put one in my last chapter): I don't own Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix does...**

-----------------------------------------

At six-thirty in the morning, there was an annoying beeping noise. What it was, who knew, but it was on a table next to his bed.

"Nggg…" Cloud rolled over and beat on the beeping chunk of plastic, hoping that the beeping would stop.

It didn't stop at all; it just got louder and louder. This caused Cloud to pick up the clock and smash the snooze button into the clock. _"Crap, now I need to fix it later..."_ Cloud thought as he got out of bed.

Cloud's roommate was still asleep, but mumbling things along the lines of, "Too early…more sleep."

Cloud took his pillow and hit Al on the head once, hoping to wake him up. It did, but Al was not very happy.

"Time for the first day of classes…" Cloud said to Al, while throwing his pillow back onto his bed.

"Eh… I have sword skills class…I don't have enough energy for that…" Al said while sitting up on his bed.

Cloud had already started to gather his clothes to take a shower. "That sounds better than materia studies. I'll go take a shower first, okay?"

"Sure, I'll probably be asleep again, so wake me up when you get out."

"Fine," Cloud said as he walked into the tiny bathroom.

After Cloud was done with his shower, he put on some pants and walked out of the bathroom while drying his hair with his towel.

Sure enough, Al was asleep again. "Al! Wake up!"

"Oh, hi. I guess I should take a shower now…" Al said groggily.

"Yeah, I'm going to finish getting dressed and head down to breakfast. See ya."

"Uh huh…" Al walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

_"Well, I guess this will do. I suppose we're getting out uniforms today."_ Cloud thought while he putting on a tight, sleeveless, gray mock turtleneck. He was also wearing black jeans and black boots.

Cloud headed down to breakfast, got some food, and sat down at an empty table. While he was eating, he noticed that someone was waving at him. It was that man that he bumped into yesterday. _"Why the hell is he trying to get my attention? I'm only a cadet…"_ Cloud thought as he waved back with a half-smile.

After Cloud noticed Zack, Zack decided that it was his queue to go over to Cloud's table and talk to him. So he did. "Hello there! You looked so alone over here."

"Oh, I was fine though. I'm just eating breakfast…" Cloud said quietly.

"I don't know why, but I think I want to get to know you better. I'm quite sure that you haven't made too many friends yet since it's only your second day here, so let me be your first official best friend!"

"Erm…Okay…" Cloud said hesitantly. "What an odd man… I wonder how much older he is from me…"

"Well, since we're friends, let's introduce ourselves better. I already told you my name is Zack, I'm eighteen years old and a first-class SOLDIER, but don't let that intimidate you."

"Well I told you yesterday that I'm Cloud, I'm sixteen and I'm a cadet to train to be in SOLDIER…" Cloud said meekly. "Wow, he's only two years older than me… I wonder if I'll move up the ranks that fast…"

"Wow, you're shy! Hopefully, I can stop you from being that way." Zack clapped a hand onto Cloud's shoulder.

Cloud flinched a little and slightly moved. Zack noticed this and immediately took his hand off of Cloud's shoulder.

Zack glanced over at the clock. It was five minutes until seven-thirty. "Looks like you have to go to class now."

"Yeah. I guess I'll see you at lunch?" Cloud gathered up his things, ready to leave.

"Yeah! Bye!"

Cloud left to go to his first class. It wasn't that bad, and he actually didn't mind the class at all. It was relatively easy. After class, the teacher told them that they had to get to one of the military officer's offices to go get their uniforms. After they get their uniforms, there was a little free time before lunch.

Normally, he would be going to a combat class, but he didn't have to report today because of the uniforms.

Cloud went back to the barracks so that he could change into his uniform. Once he changed, it was nearing lunch time, so he headed towards the cafeteria.

As soon as Cloud walked in, Zack had flagged him over to a table. Cloud put his stuff there and got his food.

"I see you got your uniform, so how was class?" Zack asked.

"A lot better than I expected. Who knew that I would pick up Materia so easily," Cloud said before placing a forkful of chicken into his mouth.

"Well, that's good. So what other classes do you have after lunch?"

"Erm…" Cloud said while looking at his schedule. "Sword skills and English."

"The rest is free time, correct?"

"Yeah, although I'm not done with classes until four."

"That's fine. You want to come over to my apartment and have some pizza? It's a lot better than this stuff," Zack said while holding up a fork full of food.

"Sure… Where should I meet you?"

"My apartment is in the building about southeast from here. It's really tall and it's tan. The building is really hard to miss, and it has a big Shin-Ra logo on it. I'll meet you outside of there. How's that sound?" Zack smiled.

"Sounds fine, I have class in a few minutes. See you then!" Cloud got up and left.

"Alright, bye!"

-------------------------------------------------

**Fullmetal-Alchemist10:** Well, I already have the next chapter written out, but I won't post it until next week because I'm going to be busy with school and CGing...it might be even later, but I promise to have it posted by my birthday! (Which is on September 9th) I will hopefully pick up Cloud and Zack's relationship soon...blah...Ja ne! Please review! I might put CGing off if you do!


	3. Chapter 3

**Fullmetal-Alchemist10:** Well, sorry for the delay, but as I said before, I have school so I won't update as often. I have written a really long chapter for the next one and I'll try to make them longer so that you get more out of the story despite the delays. My birthday was just this past weekend (September 9th for you late people) and I got Advent Children. I jumped around my house squeeing because I totally didn't expect to get it. Anyway, here's the new chapter, hope you like it!

**Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII despite the fact that Zack, Cloud and Sephiroth are just goddamn sexy.**

**--------------------------------------------------**

"Well, that's finally over with, I thought English would never end… Now for pizza…" Cloud was thinking as he made his way over to Zack's apartment building.

Zack was sitting outside on a bench that was next to the building. As soon as he saw Cloud, he waved and walked towards him. "So how was class?"

"Fine… I did fine in sword skills, most of it was explanations. English was boring. Probably the only thing that got me through that class without losing my mind was the fact that I was going to have pizza," Cloud said while barely smiling.

Zack laughed. "You really like pizza that much? Well, let's get inside and order it!"

Zack put his arm over Cloud's shoulders in a friendly manner, but Cloud flinched again. Zack had forgotten Cloud's odd flinch and took his arm off._ "I guess he doesn't like being touched,"_ Zack thought.

When they got into Zack's apartment, Cloud's eyes went wide. The apartment was lovely, much better than the barracks, and had leather couches and a good sized TV. Zack noticed Cloud's expression and laughed. "I'm guessing you like my apartment? I would too if I had to live in the barracks again," he said as he walked in.

"Wow, now I really, really want to be in SOLDIER," Cloud said, following Zack.

Zack picked up the phone and started ordering a pizza. "Hey Cloud, any particular topping you want?"

"Ummm… mushroom."

"Okay." Zack finished ordering the pizza, and then sat on the couch. "Don't just stand there, you can sit." Zack patted the spot on the couch next to him.

Cloud walked over to the couch and sat on the side opposite of Zack.

Zack smiled. "Feel like talking about ourselves to get to know each other better to pass the time until the pizza arrives?"

"Umm… Alright…" Cloud started to stare at the floor.

"I'll start first. Well, I used to live in Gongaga before I came to Midgar and I'm now eighteen years old, although I think I already told you the second thing. Hmm… I also have a lovely girl named Aerith who sells flowers on the lower plate. That's all that I can really think of. Your turn."

"I lived in Nibelheim, I'm sixteen, and I like this girl Tifa that lives at my hometown. I don't think she likes me back though…" Cloud said meekly. He noticed for some reason that when Zack mentioned Aerith, he couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy. _"What's your problem?"_ Cloud thought to himself._ "You like Tifa, not men like Zack!"_

All of a sudden the doorbell rang. "Oh! The pizza's here!" Zack sprung up and opened the door. Then he walked back in holding two pizza boxes. Zack handed one of them to Cloud. "Here ya go."

"You expect me to eat a whole pizza?" Cloud said in surprise.

"Yeah, doesn't everyone?" Zack said taking a bit of his own pizza. It was a mushroom pizza as well.

"No… I usually eat only half a pizza at most." Cloud said, taking a bite.

"Maybe that's why you're so scrawny looking."

"I'm not scrawny!" Then Cloud took note of Zack's pizza. "You like mushroom, too?"

"Yeah, it's my favorite. I was surprised you liked it too… Usually people look at me weird and say 'I hate mushroom'" Zack took another slice.

"Same here…" Cloud was almost done with his first slice. He didn't eat the crust, though.

"Hand that crust over, I'll eat it. I don't want good food to go to waste."

Cloud handed over the scrap and started on his next slice. "Do make treatments cause you to have a faster metabolism, or something?"

"Yeah… maybe that's why I can eat a whole pizza like it's nothing… never thought about it." There was a slight pause as Zack reached for a third slice. "Just wondering, why do you flinch when you get touched? When I put my arm over your shoulder, you looked uncomfortable."

Cloud sighed. "Well, back at home, I was always picked on, so usually when someone other than my mother touched me; it ended with me getting beaten up. It has become a habit to flinch whenever someone touches me. I must appear as such a wimp right now…" Cloud said while staring at his knees.

"Aww… Well I can fix that! I'm your first official friend here, so I can help you out!" Zack smiled and scooted towards Cloud at the same time.

Cloud smiled slightly and said, "Official friend? I know you mentioned it earlier, but do you mean everyone else I met was 'unofficial'?"

"I guess so… Why, am I not as cool as your other friends? Is a first class SOLDIER not cool enough for you?" Zack said while crossing his arms in fake disappointment.

"No of course not! I just thought I wasn't cool enough for you. I'm only a cadet… what makes me so special?"

"I don't know why, but I like you in the least weird way possible. Also, since you are my friend now, you get all sorts of cool privileges! Like meet the Great General Sephiroth! I see him like every other day so it's not that special for me, but usually people like to meet him…"

"Really? You could take me to meet Sephiroth? That would be awesome and totally frightening at the same time."

"Frightening? Nah, once you get to know him, he's not that bad. Although, he doesn't smile much unless I accidentally hurt myself. It's not a very big smile, and you won't see it unless you're really looking. I could invite him over sometime and you can see him. Sound good?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, that would be great!"

By now, Zack had finished eating his pizza and Cloud had his half finished. Zack looked at the clock and said, "It's not for another three hours until your curfew. Feel like doing anything in particular?"

"Not really…"

"Hey, I thought of something. When is your day of leave?" Zack asked.

"Every Thursday, why?"

"Well, this Thursday, I'm going to take you out for a few drinks. We can ride my motorcycle to get there. Is that alright?"

"Yeah! Although, I'm only sixteen. I can't drink yet." Cloud said, looking disappointed.

"Being in Shin-Ra has it's perks," Zack said, winking.

For the rest of the time, the two just watched TV and ate snacks. When it was nearing Cloud's curfew, Zack had himself stretched out on the couch with his head in Cloud's lap. Cloud for some reason didn't really realize this until he had to leave. "I have to go now, its ten minutes until curfew. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Zack smiled as he sat up so that Cloud could get up. "Sorry about lying on you. I end up doing that to Seph sometimes, and then he looks at me funny. See you tomorrow!"

Cloud thanked Zack for having him over and then went back to the barracks.

Al was already in the room lounging on the couch watching their own miniscule television. "Where've you been?"

"I was over at Zack's apartment…" Clouds said as he put his bag down by his bed.

"Zack invited you over? Lucky."

"Yeah, apparently I'm his friend now, that's what he said. He's really nice, even though he's kinda strange. Zack even said that he could let me meet General Sephiroth sometime!"

"I would be terrified out of my mind if I ever met Sephiroth. Have fun with that. Well I'm going to bed now, night." Al said as he turned off the television and made his way over to the bed.

"Night."

**--------------------------------------------------**

**Fullmetal-Alchemist10:** Well, I hope you liked the chapter, I'm sorry that it's kind of slow, but the next chapter is Cloud's day of leave! Yay! Until then, ja ne!


End file.
